Big Idea:
There is more to vegetables than meets the eye. They come in all sorts of colors and shapes. Come and discover them!

Today, my students will engage in reading about a vegetable of their choice. They will read to find all about the vegetable. They are researching what their vegetable look likes, how it feels, how it smells, and other interesting information. To record their findings, they will use a bubble map. I am asking them to write 7-10 descriptive facts about their vegetable. They will use this information to write an informative paragraph about their vegetable. I will model for them how to use the information they gathered on their bubble map to write their paragraph.

A new shift with the CCSS is about giving students the practice to be able to handle complex text. In this case my students are using the descriptive language in the text to write about their vegetable. While this language includes the five senses: smell, taste, sight, touch, etc., my students are not using their fives senses to describe the fruit. For them to be successful with this complex text, I am scaffolding by asking them to highlight only those words that relate to the five senses, they are using a graphic organizer (the bubble map), and I am modeling the writing process. As I write, I will refer to a couple of charts that provide support for their writing as well.

At the end of the lesson, I will give the students an opportunity to share with one another about their vegetable. Also, students will be given a checklist to help them understand whether they have accomplished all the parts that need to be included in their paragraph. This paragraph is a draft and the students will have an opportunity to revise and edit later on during the week.

Lesson Opening:

I start with students on the rug. I share the objective in a student friendly manner: I can write a paragraph thats informs about a vegetable.

Then, I proceed to show them how they will need to first collect their details. They will need to read with the purpose of finding: how it looks like, tastes, smells, feels, where they come from, how they grow, and any other information they find interesting. I will be referring to a chart we created as a class to support them with this reading/writing endeavor.

I pass out the vegetable each student will be reading about as I dismiss them to their tables.

As they read, they will use a yellow highlighter to highlight the descriptive information they are looking for. I will post the chart with what I asked them to looked for on the white board where it is visible for all to see. I will walk around to help anyone who needs to be redirected.

Once the students are done reading, they will transfer 7-10 descriptive facts about their vegetables to their bubble map. Graphic organizers such as a bubble map are a fruitful way to help students organize their research/thinking. In using the bubble may, I am also helping them to be focused. Again, I am walking around monitoring their work and assisting where needed.

Before the students get to their bubble maps, I will take the time to review how to use it. I will use a timer to keep us on track. Here are examples of their bubble maps:

Though we have learned the structure of informational paragraphs in previous lessons, I am still very direct about how to compose their informative paragraph to ensure that they all remember the clear structure we need to use. I review the following out loud with them as I model with an example:

Title

Topic sentence (remind them what is a topic sentence: I will refer to the chart we created from previous lessons.)

Making sure to indent the topic sentence.

Using transitional words to support show how their paragraph moves from one sentence to another.

Resources

Students will now be engaged in writing their paragraph. I will remind them to take their time writing their paragraph. While they will have the chance to revise and edit it later, I still want them to be mindful about how they are writing their paragraph.

Also, I have been working with my students on writing complex sentences. Part of writing complex sentences is using more than 5 words in their sentences. These complex sentences need to include, the who, what, and where. I will remind to use different types of sentences and not just get complacent with writing the same pattern of sentences over and over.

Students will have access to a couple of charts. One charts displays introductory sentences. Another, what needs to be included in their paragraph.

I will gather the students back on the rug. I will explain how they will use a checklist with a partner to share their paragraphs.

Students will spend time sharing with each other the paragraph they wrote. In sharing their paragraphs with each other, they will have a checklist to determine whether they accomplished all the parts that needed to be included in their paragraphs.